This is War
by Billiebee3
Summary: Spin off from a deleted scene in the movie. Why is Kathryn is way she is? Everyone has their reasons and Kathryn is no exception. KathrynSebastian.
1. If you say so

_Disclaimer: I don't own Cruel Intentions, it's characters, or it's deleted scenes._

_Author's note: This is based on part of a deleted scene from the movie that, in my opinion, should have been kept. It's just me playing around with it a bit and seeing what could have happened. _

"Silly rabbit. My triumph isn't over her. It's over you."

"Come again?"

"You were very much in love with her, and you're still in love with her. But it amused me to make you ashamed of it. You gave up on the first person you ever loved because I threatened your reputation. Don't you get it? You're just a toy, Sebastian. A little toy I like to play with. And now you've completely blown it with her. I think it's the saddest thing I've ever heard. Cheers." She raised her champagne glass before taking a sip. "Mmm, tastes good." She put the glass down and stood up, walking confidently towards him. "So I assume you've come here to make some arrangements, but unfortunately, I don't fuck losers."

Sebastian slapped her hard across the face before he even knew what he was doing.

She covered the place he had hit her with her hand. "Mother fucker!"

She tried to swing back but he easily forced her to the ground and pins both her hands beside her head.

"Nobody hits me!"  
He lowered his face close to hers. "Calm down."

"Fine! Get off me!" Katherine yelled not calm in the least.

"Will you calm down?"

She relaxed her head back to the floor and takes a few harsh breaths before whispering "please."

Sebastian took another moment to look at her and be sure for himself that she was calm and then he fully intended on getting off her, helping her up and then probably apologizing. But somehow or another his body decided not to listen to him and suddenly kissed her hard instead. She didn't respond, but he hadn't expected her to. Even so he kept going with his passion and built up fury only growing as he continued. Her wrists were still pinned to the floor and he knew very well that there wasn't one single thing she could do to make he stop until he wanted to. Maybe that was why he kept going. It was the first time that he had ever held the power between them until now. She had always been the one controlling him, not the other way around. And the thought of having the power to control her for once really appealed to him.

She never responded and he didn't break his lips off from hers for a few minutes. When he did finally stop and saw her face what he saw shocked him at first and then made him feel like the most horrible person on the planet. She looked scared…of him. He'd never seen that kind of look in her eyes before. Then he noticed the position they were in. To anyone who saw it would have seemed just as if he were going to rape her. He could never do that. He didn't have it in him to hurt any girl, even Katherine, that way. But from the look in her eye he could have sworn that it was exactly what she thought he was going to do.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as soon as he could once again form words on his lips. He quickly got off her and helped her up from the floor.

She only stared at him with shock in her cold dark eyes.

"I'm sorry about that." He repeated in a normal voice as he backed away from her.

"I accept. No-now get the fuck out." Katherine let out in a half angry, half trembling voice.

"I didn't-I wouldn't…" Sebastian wasn't sure how to finish the statement. They continued to stare at each other and, after a moment, she regained her confident bitchy air and walked to the door, opening it for him as a reminder for him to leave. Instead he sat on the couch where she had been on the opposite side of the room a moment ago with her champagne.

"We had an arrangement!"  
She continued to hold the door open. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Will you forgive me?" He asked angrily.

"I said I accept. Now get out!"

"No!" He went up to her and slammed the door shut, bending down into her face. "Were you ever going to hold up your side of the bargain?"

"Were you ever going to fall in love with somebody else?"

"That-that's not true Katherine! God, I love you more, ok?" His expression hardened as he reminded himself who he was dealing with. Emotion was weakness. "Now get your ass on the bed and prepare for the fuck of a life time, cause after what you put me through I deserve it!"

She gave him the coldest look he'd ever seen from her in his life and she turned around and sat on the edge of the bed. But something in the air of the look in her eyes and the way she held herself discomforted him. He won. She obeyed him for the first time ever. Shouldn't he be happy? A feeling of discomfort fell over him as she slowly walked over and joined her, sitting beside his step sister.

She shot daggers at him with her eyes as if daring him as she scooted back onto the bed farther, tossed the see through shirt off over her head and laid and on her back. He had been waiting for this for years, but right now Katherine laying shirtless on the bed waiting for him was somehow tearing something in him up instead of making him excited as he should be. He had finally managed to hurt her back somehow. After all the times she had hurt him it should have made them even, not make him feel like some kind on evil villain. Sleeping with her now would feel like raping her. She didn't want it.

Taking off his jacket he scooted back to where she was and laid down beside her, putting her over close to him as she continued staring at him with a large knot growing in the back of her throat as he pulled her. She was expecting him to flip himself on top of her, but he didn't. Instead he rolled over to face her completely and wrapped an arm over her, holding her as if she were the most precious thing in the word.

She had no idea what to do, or even what he was doing. With all of her sexual adventures she had never once just laid close to a guy being held. She never cuddled. It seemed foreign to her, but things would be different with Sebastian, wouldn't they? He was the closest thing she had to her equal. He one person who knew who she really was. Part of her wanted to hurt him so bad he'd never get over it, part wanted to kiss him, and the other part wanted to run away screaming after what he'd done earlier. She wasn't sure which to do, so she just remained laying there with him, wishing for the first time both of them weren't so screwed up. She needed some coke, or at least a drink. But she didn't move and neither did he. Both just stayed holding and being held too confused to act.

"Katherine, do you love me?"

"What?" She asked in a surprised and somewhat appalled voice.

He regretted asked the moment it was out.

"I don't love anyone." She lied. "It's a weak emotion."

"If you say so." He got her real answer easily though, having so much practice reading what she meant behind what she said. He'd been doing it for years. It was the only way he could survive with her, live with her, love her in his own distorted way. It wasn't the same kind of love he had for Annette.

What he had for her was simple and sweet in comparison. But as much as he hated it, what he had with Katherine went miles deeper to places too dark to ever take Annette. Annette brought out the best in him and Katherine the worst. But only Katherine could take all of him, hold all of him. Annette could never handle him the way Katherine could because she wasn't his equal, Katherine was. He loved Annette now, and was sure she loved him back and it made him happy and content. But it wouldn't last forever. He could fast forward a few years and imagine his life without Annette, but Katherine on the other hand had to be there. Evil bitch. He needed her.

Sensing her continuing discomfort at being held he finally made up his mind and flipped on top of her. She looked at him as if wanting to just get it over with as he put a hand to her breast above her bra and gripped it gently. She unzipped his pants and he suddenly wanted to cry. He didn't want her. Not like this. He didn't want to screw her like he always led her to believe he did. He wanted to make love to her and she would have none of it. He froze in place and stared at her, trying to tell her, but knowing very well that she would never truly understand. She was a cold bitch that didn't know what it was to truly make love to someone. He wished she would let him try to show her.

"I can't do this." He finally got out before quickly rezipping his pants and getting off of her. He stood and handed her shirt back to her from the floor as she sat up very confused.

"Christ! You really are in love with her, aren't you?"

He turned back around as he was exiting and stared incredulously.

By this time he was getting tired. "What do you want from me, Katherine?"

She didn't answer.


	2. I'm not

_Note: The last part of this chapter is M. So message me if you can't read it and want the clean version._

A few days later:

There had been a time when she wasn't so messed up, or at least didn't seem so to him. A time when she didn't snort coke all the time. A time when she was neither pessimistic or horrible. He had known her long before their parents were married and even when they were children.

She had never been what anyone could call pleasant, but wasn't an evil bitch yet either. That hadn't started to develop until about four years back. Before then she had lived with her father most of the time. Sebastian was always jealous of their relationship. He hated his father. But hers treated her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. While she may not love anyone now, Sebastian was absolutely sure she had loved him. He was wrapped around his little finger and she was actually a sweet and loving daughter. That all changed when he committed suicide…overdosed on cocaine. Sometimes Sebastian could swear she was trying to follow him.

At the moment she had just gotten in with that foreign servant of hers carrying all the shopping bags. Shopping was something she did to cheer herself up and so was snorting…and ruining other people's lives. It was her birthday today. Eighteen. Legal. And considering it was Katherine, the thought was somewhat scary. He wondered whether or not she knew that he remembered. He'd never done anything for her for it before and neither had anyone else, really. Everyone was too afraid to attempt to do anything because she was so impossible to please, but she never mentioned it either. Not once in the ten years that he'd known her had anyone done or given her one thing for it other than her father. He used to practically make it a national holiday. One year he rented all the rides from a traveling fair just for her and her friends as well as hiring entertainers.

Sebastian remembered that year very well. Katherine's cake was nearly three feet tall and there were over fifty children there. They were nine and he remembered it mostly as the first time he looked at her and thought her pretty for a girl.

When she was older, the last year he was alive to give her a party, was when she turned fourteen. It was an inside affair because of the rain and he let her and all her friends have cocktails with just a bare hint of actual alcohol. He'd bought her a diamond necklace that was probably worth more that Sebastian's car. Katherine looked so happy. And not the fake happy she put on around people nowadays either, but really, actually happy. It was later that day when the party was over that he had OD'd on the cocaine.

To be honest it was probably an accident but Sebastian always knew that for some reason Katherine blamed herself for it. It was terrible when he died, even for Sebastian. Her father had always been nice to him too and he liked him despite being jealous. It was the only time he'd ever seen Katherine cry.

He watched her as she went into her bedroom and wondered how long it would take for her to notice the small package on her bed. She stayed inside her room for several hours. He finally gave up on waiting for any kind of reaction and went to his own room to go to bed. That was a mistake. When he woke up in the middle of the night, something had felt off. He wasn't exactly sure what. He felt like he had to check on Katherine before he could go back to sleep and went he went into her room to check he saw her on the floor in an odd position as if she'd been on her way out of the room.

Sebastian went over to his step sister to see what was going on to find her completely unconscious with her coke spilling out of her cross wound around her wrist unto the floor. This was a sight he'd never seen before. He always had worried about her coke problem but she had always kept it under control up until now. But he had seen her use a lot more of it lately.

He quickly went over to her and pushed her over so that she was on her side and he could see her face better. She was breathing, so she must have just crashed really hard from the dose. Sebastian scooped her up easily and carried her over to her bed where the journal he'd left there for her to read lay open to the page where he had described her as both his love and a manipulative bitch. He closed the book and laid her down, taking her heels off and going to a drawer to find her night clothes.

She usually wore silky slips at night and, after quite a bit of searching, he finally found the drawer where she kept them. He walked over to her and carefully changed her clothes, enjoying the view of her naked body while doing so. She was a beautiful girl, on the outside if nowhere else. As he was pulling the short slip over her head and down her body she began mumbling and acting sort of alert.

"Katherine? I'm just putting you to bed, alright?"

"Hmm… yeah."

He grinned, feeling more reassured that she was ok and pulled the covers up over her, fixing the pillow under her head so that she would be comfortable. He finished fixing the covers and putting her clothes in a pile and started to leave.

"Uhh…wai-" Her hand just barely caught his arm as he began to get up. "I-ont want you to go." He grinned, shaking his head slightly and laid down beside her in the bed, her head ending up against his shoulder and his hand at her waist.

The next time he woke up Katherine was wide awake staring at him. He could tell by the lighting in the room that it was early morning just before the sun came completely out.

"Good morning, sis." He managed out smoothly.

She continued to stare at him like an alien and then out of nowhere quickly leaned forward and kissed him square on the lips. He reciprocated it, pulling the back of her head closer to his with his hand as they continued. She flipped on top of him, straddling his waist and they continued to kiss more and more passionately with every second. His hand rubbed gently up her smooth thighs to underneath her slip and began to lift it but she stopped him as she broke away first from the kiss.

"I'm not a bitch." She said with some kind of strange hurt evident in her voice. He eyed her curiously.

"Yes you are. But I love you anyways." He practically laughed out in amusement.

She untied the string on his pajama pants and unbuttoned the front as his hands returned to her thighs to help her position herself over him before lowering down. He let her start off on top but soon flipped them over so that she was between him and the mattress. He bent down and kissed her continuingly as they went and when she thought it was over he started to kiss his way down her neck and collarbone to let her know it wasn't. He felt like he needed to prove himself to her. This time he tossed his own shirt of and then went to get off her slip. But she again stopped him. He looked up at her questionably.

"I don't do it without something on." She said simply.

He grinned and took it off her quickly before she could do much about it and began sucking and playing with her breasts as he let himself back in her again. She seemed surprised, but very pleased. And the surprise didn't end there either. After the second time she expected him to simply get off her, grab his clothes and leave. But instead he remained inside of her for a moment and then lowered himself so that he wasn't crushing her, but was on top of her and wrapped his arms around her body, kissing the side of her neck affectionately. She wasn't sure exactly what to do, but finally decided to just rub her hands up and down his back soothingly. That was new for her. The whole experience was new in that it didn't seem just physical. He moved his hands from underneath her so that he could move beside and spoon her and she let him.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not a bitch."


	3. wrong

Neither of them had slept very long the night before, so it didn't take much for both of them to fall back asleep afterwards. Sebastian was still holding her tightly and it was the first time that Katherine had literally slept with someone. She could felt him lightly rub her side with his thumb as she fell asleep first and wondered at how strange the experience was. Things were going to be different now, they had to be after something like this happened. Even she wasn't sure she could pretend it never happened.

The next time she awoke it was almost ten and Sebastian was staring at her. She blinked her eyes wide open a few times and then stared straight back at him, which it almost hurt to do since they were so close. Both of them were laying on their sides facing each other, and it took her a second to realize the reason that they were so close was that he was holding her up to him, one arm wound over her side and the other underneath. The entire front of her body was flush against him.

"I didn't want you to leave me." He said softly and his voice almost made her shiver.

She realized she was grinning and quickly turned her face hard once again, never wanting to give him the satisfaction of letting him know that maybe he did something that actually made her happy for just a second. She roughly pushed his body away and got up, grabbing her slip on the floor beside the bed and putting it back on over her head, before retreating to her bathroom and drawing up a nice hot bath only intended for herself.

She turned off the facet after seeing the steaming water rise to the right level in the tub and stepped in, relaxing her back up against the higher side of the white and gold claw foot tub and closing her eyes.

Her mind turned to the pages of the journal she read on Annette and the bet. _Christ! You really are in love with her, aren't you? Come off it, Katherine, it's just a stupid bet. You're in love with her, you don't love me anymore! You're such a bitch Katherine. I don't love anyone. We had an arrangement! Get off of me! You're just a toy, Sebastian. I'm sorry. Do you love me? I'm not a bitch._

A picture of Sebastian looking at Annette swept through her mind, with her walking away outside and smiling at him. He smiled back and she didn't know anymore whether or not it was fake. She reached over for her coke filled cross and took in a bit, trying to feel better. Her head hurt. She thought it would relax her but instead her mind just filled up farther, and she remembered seeing Sebastian when he was younger, on the day her father had died. She had been the one that found him, and then as the last party guest that hadn't left, Sebastian found her.

She remembered his face when he saw her leaning over her father's dead body on the floor and crying hysterically. She remembered him calmly walking out of the room to call an ambulance and returning to finally pull her away from her father as the paramedics worked. But there was nothing they could do, he was dead before they got there.

She ended up crying into his shirt as he hugged her for several hours and then after that having a mutual silent agreement with him to never talk about it ever again. He had held her, but neither ever said a word and she never said thank you. Why should she? Her father knew that she loved him and look where that got him. Sebastian didn't need to know. And she made it a point to hide it from him. He was nothing but an amusement and scheme partner to her. She took another snort of coke.

She remembered every tiny detail of the day her father died and Sebastian had found her because it was the first day she ever wished to die. But not the last. No, that feeling became very, very familiar over the past few years. And the more pain she felt, the more she wanted to hurt…other people. Why should she be the only one to suffer? Why shouldn't she make other people as miserable as her?

And Sebastian had always stood behind her, helping her to a degree and backing her up because he understood. He ruined people's lives with her. He slept around too. If he didn't she would have been completely alone and probably offed herself a long time ago. He knew her. He was the only person alive that knew her. And then he had almost left her to fall in love with somebody else…some little blonde virgin. Another snort.

Her head began to feel funny and cloud as she wondered again at how easy it would be to just take a razor to her wrists…no…too messy. She held it in one hand and studied it, holding it up to her opposite wrist just to see…her head clouded over farther and suddenly she felt dizzy. Without even realizing it, the razor slipped across one wrist as the hand that held it collapsed down under the water. But she barely felt the pain. Her head just hurt her so much…

Sebastian came back into Katherine's room after taking a shower and getting dressed. Steam was escaping from underneath her bathroom door and Sebastian wondered whether she had been in there the whole time. He turned the handle, it wasn't locked, never was. He walked across the fair sized bathroom through the hot steam to the tub Katherine must have fallen asleep in.

"Someone's enjoying their bath a little too much." He said to her smugly and suggestively, expecting her to open her eyes and throw back a riposte. But her eyes and mouth both remained closed and none came. His eyes were suddenly drawn to her bloody cut wrist and the possibility of what might have happened…that she might have killed herself…flooded into his mind. He grabbed her bare shoulders and shook her violently, trying to get some kind of response. None came and he began to panic.

"Katherine? Katherine!" He reached an arm into the water and underneath her thighs and the other behind her back, quickly lifting her out of the tub and into his lap on the floor, still shaking her. He held his head down to her chest and listened intently for a heartbeat, finding it after a moment and his body relaxed somewhat, though not much. He took her out of the steamy bathroom and into her room, laying her down on the bed and quickly calling an ambulance as her grabbed a towel to hold to her wrist though the cut wasn't too deep. Not deep enough to be really dangerous.

That was when it hit him. She wasn't trying to slash her wrists. If she had she would have cut deeper and done both of them. That wasn't why she was unconscious. He grabbed a slip from a drawer in a hurry and slipped it on her, knowing she wouldn't want to be naked when the EMTs showed up. He wondered if it was the coke…if she had OD'd. That could be it…but something in Sebastian just told him no. Something was wrong with her. Something was wrong with his Katherine.

"Has she ever fainted before?" One EMT asked when they arrived and began working on her.

Sebastian shook his head no for a moment until he remembered last night and then froze. "Well last night, but I thought she had just crashed from the coke she snorts."

The man looked at him harshly, as if he had been intentionally with holding information. "What's your relation with her?" He asked suspiciously.

"She's my stepsister. Look, is she ok?" Sebastian asked, beginning to lose his cool.

The man ignored his question and put her into the ambulance. Sebastian went with her.


	4. nothing's changed

Sebastian paced up and down the hospital hall near the room they had put Katherine in after stabilizing her. It had been two hours after they got there.

"What's wrong with her?" Sebastian asked forcefully to the doctor who had just barely came out of the room.

"Who are you?" He questioned.

"I'm her brother, just tell me dammit!"

The man shook his head tiredly. "She fainted because of her low blood pressure…but the heart arrhythmia made it harder to get her stabilized." The man glanced up at him for the first time, giving him a sharp look before returning his eyes to the chart in his hands. "Did you know about your sister's problem with bulimia?"

Sebastian shook his head a little. "No. Is she going to be ok?"

The man took in a big breath. "She should seek treatment for that…and for the cocaine that was in her system."

"Yeah." He got out in a hurry, knowing on one on God's green earth could ever get Katherine to do so. "Can I go in now?"

The doctor shook his head, preoccupied still on the chart, and waved his hand motioning for him to go ahead.

Sebastian pushed open the door in a hurry, but when he saw she was asleep he slowed and tried to be more quiet as he walked up to her.

"Why do you have torture yourself, Katherine? You'd think tormenting me and everyone else in the world would be enough for you." He kept his voice low as he sat on the side of the bed where she had her back to him and reached around to tuck some dark silky hair that was in her face behind her ear.

He leant down and kissed the side of her head softly just above it. "You're so stupid, Katherine. You're so stupid." He whispered with affection that didn't match his words still leant over her.

She kept her eyes closed for a moment. "Not as stupid as you, dear brother. What are you gonna gloat now?"

He rubbed her arm up and down gently. "No."

She opened her eyes and swallowed hard. "You're such a pussy. Nothing's changed, you know."

He grinned, half expecting her to say that. "I know."

He leaned over once again except farther and kissed his step sister deeply on the lips. He had only meant it to be short and light, but after a moment she deepened it quickly, obviously needing more. His hand moved up to her shoulder and rested there.

She didn't say it, never said it. But he knew, he could feel it. He knew that in her own dark twisted way she loved him back. Just like he knew she knew he loved her. After all, they were two of a kind. What would they do without each other? Sure, he would probably fall in love with another girl like Annette, or maybe even get her back. Be in love. Convince himself he's happy. But there would always be a chunk of him missing.

And Katherine, what would she do? Contract AIDS? Die of an overdose or because of her apparent bulimia? Who knows. He was sure she would never for a second let anyone see her unhappiness though. Even though she was miserable. He hadn't known about the bulimia thing before the doctor told him, but it didn't surprise him in the least. No one ever seemed to get to see it except him on occasion, but she definitely had problems of her own…even if she was perfect to the rest of the word.

He couldn't fix her. No one could. But he could take care of her in his own way. He could be on her side and make sure she wasn't alone. He could make sure she got to bed at night without doing anything too horrible to herself. It was his job and no one else could get close enough to her to do it for him. His place was with her.

"Let's get you out of here." He said quietly. "They said I could take you home as long as you get some rest."

He checked her out and called a taxi, since he didn't have his car with him. The drive home was completely silent. Both looked out the opposite windows, not wanting to seem weak or too interested in the other.

Katherine got out of the cab and walked into the house feeling lightheaded and nauseous, but made sure to show no signs of it to Sebastian. He followed behind her at a same distance until she made it to her room, closing the door behind her and collapsing down into her bed.

She fell asleep immediately, feeling unnaturally tired, and Sebastian came not to long afterwards and changed her into her night slip again and tucked her in. Not that he minded…nope the view was something he could defiantly get used too. He went into the bathroom and found the cross she kept her coke in and dumped most of it out, making sure to make it look like it just spilled out from falling on the floor where she had dropped it.

Annette finally called. He didn't answer. He felt like he needed to apologize, but what could possibly say? Sorry I did like you but after I took your virginity away I figured out I'm more in love with my sister than I am with you? Yeah, that would go well.

He would see later if there was ever any indirect way he could make it up to her. Make sure she was shielded from Katherine's scheming during school at least. But there was no reason to even bother trying to explain or apologize. It was killing the newly grown conscious he had, but he had couldn't worry about Annette right now, he had to stick by Katherine.

He left her alone to rest and came in to check on her the next morning. He was trying hard not to let it on to her, but he was worried. Heart arrhythmia? Couldn't people die of that? She was still in her bed sleeping…which made sixteen hours straight. Yeah, he was getting worried. Sebastian walked over and scooted into bed next to her, checking to make sure she was still breathing and all…yep…she wasn't dead at least. Still, he felt weird about leaving her again…she needed to wake up first.

He looked around the room, trying to find something to occupy himself with while waiting. His journal was on the dresser. He picked it up and flipped through the familiar pages, finding the page about her and reading it one more time, though he knew every word by heart.

Everything written there was true…Katherine was a bitch and did have a coke problem and he did love her. But there were little spots on the paper as if tears had been shed over it. Those were new…had to be Katherine's. So, she still knew how to cry, he thought. The ability hadn't gone away with her father like he thought it had. He wasn't sure whether it made him feel better or worse.

He laid down next to her except above the comforter and found himself running his finger tips up and down her torso. His hand reached her hip and her felt a half conscious hand on top of his. He froze as she stared intently at him. She looked as if she were actually about to cry.

He moved his other hand to caress the side of her face. "Are you ok?"

She stared at him for a long moment before just barely sharing her head yes. He leaned forward and kissed her shortly as the doorbell rang through the house. It wasn't much of a question who it was. They both knew it was Annette the second they heard the sound. Katherine's face hardened again, as if the one it replaced didn't really exist.

"Your virgin-no-more is waiting for you."

Sebastian dropped his head and let out a frustrated breath before glanced to Katherine again and then getting up and headed for the door.

_So, there's two ways I could go with Katherine in this…what do you think? Bad or good? _


	5. sap show

_Warning- this chap gets somewhat M towards the ending. As always please message me if you'd like a cleaned version._

Sebastian drug himself to the door, not wanting to answer it in the least but knowing he needed to get it over with. He opened the door to a very upset looking Annette.

"Hello, Sebastian. We need to talk."

He let her in reluctantly. "Yes, we do, I agree. But now is really not a good time." He let out smoothly.

"Well, too bad, because I think you owe me an explanation!" Her voice rose, understandable, Sebastian thought, for her situation.

He shushed her. "Ok, ok. Just keep your voice down." He wasn't sure whether Katherine was still awake or not and didn't want to disturb her and have Annette hurt her head with her screaming. She looked like she was in pain earlier and had been through enough.

"Don't shush me! Do you have any idea what you put me through?"

"Yes, Annette I do and I'll try to explain it for you if you just keep your voice down."

Annette's face became flustered. "Is there a girl here? Is that why I need to keep my voice down? Because you don't want her to know what you did to me so you can do it to her too?" She walked quickly down the hall towards where the bedrooms probably were and opened a random door. It was empty.

"Annette, don't!" She tried another that led to Katherine's room and looked in hesitantly, Sebastian just catching up behind her. She walked in slowly and went over to the figure lying in the large bed built into the wall. It was a dark haired girl that she didn't know, yet seemed familiar. She was asleep.

"Who is this?" Annette asked with a more surprised than accusing quality to her voice as she looked down at the beautiful girl.

Sebastian came up beside her and sat down on the edge of the bed gently, pulling the covers up over the girl farther so they covered her shoulders and carefully tucked it in around her.

"My step-sister." He finally took his eyes off Katherine to meet Annette's gaze. "Katherine." He rested a hand on his sister's shoulder affectionately. "She's ill."

"I'm sorry." The blonde said softly, letting her eyes wonder back to Katherine's face. She noticed that the girl seemed pale. She felt slightly ashamed for yelling and then storming into the room and got up, walking quietly to the door. Sebastian followed.

"May I ask what's wrong with her?"

"Heart arrhythmia." Sebastian answered at least partially in truth. He didn't want to embarrass Katherine. "She just got out of the hospital yesterday."

_Which is why he didn't answer my call. _Annette put together, guiltily. But he had hurt her and broke up with her for no reason after sleeping with her. So she did have a right to be angry.

"Will she be alright?" She asked politely.

Sebastian sat down on the couch behind him and she noticed for the first time how tired and tense he looked. "I don't know."

Annette sat down and looked around a little. She'd never been inside here before. "So where are your parents? They must be very worried."

"Not really. They don't care one way or another, I think. I have to take care of her." He gazed off into space for a moment wistfully. "It's pretty much just the two of us. She's all I've got."

And then Annette easily recognized what she heard in his voice while speaking about her, though she didn't understand.

"You're in love with her? Your sister?" Her voice just held surprise, but he couldn't detect any accusations or anger. "She's who you left me for?"

Sebastian nodded slightly. "I know it sounds twisted. She's the biggest bitch in the world. But we weren't step siblings until we were sixteen. I wanted her before then." Annette wasn't sure if he was really speaking to her anymore or just kind of to himself.

Then he snapped out of it and looked up at her. "We always stuck together, but it was never…we were never… And I did love you, Annette. I'm sorry this happened and I'm sorry I drug you into it. If I could fix it I would. But I just finally realized how much she meant-" His voice cracked and he tried very hard to keep himself from sounding upset. "A-and I have to take care of her."

Annette looked down at the floor. She was very upset for what he had done to her. But she also somehow felt bad for him. And what could she say to that, really? She stood up and walked quietly to the door to let herself out, turning back to him when she reached it.

"I hope you're better to her than you were to me." She said just barely audibly and left with Sebastian staring at her, the words _I'm so, so, so sorry _plastered all over his face. She shut the door loudly behind her as she left.

"I'm sorry." He said, knowing she wouldn't hear as he sat alone. He went back into Katherine's room.

"You can stop pretending now, she's gone." He walked over to her bed and sat beside her again as she opened her eyes and wriggled around a little, trying to get comfortable.

"Good, I thought I was going to vomit listening to that sap show. You broke it off, I assume?"

The covers had come off her a little when she moved and he re-tucked her in carefully as he spoke. "Oh, sis, you're such a drama queen."

She spoke smoothly and self-assuredly. "Well, you must not mind it or you wouldn't have broken up with her on my account."

He leaned back against the wall and stretched out his legs. "Well, I have to take care of my tragically fucked up little step sister, don't I?"

"Watch it, Valmont. I'm only six months younger than you. And besides, dear brother, you're probably getting some sick amusement from this anyways." She took a sniff of coke. "I can't be held accountable for my actions in my weakened state."

Sebastian stared at her for a moment, letting just a flicker of anger show. The truth was that he wasn't enjoying this, not at all. The idea of Katherine being seriously sick scared the hell out of him. He knew when she was faking it and when she wasn't and the paleness in her face, look of exhaustion, and pain in her eyes wasn't fake. He wished she were faking it.

He was supposed to bring her back to the hospital tomorrow to get some more tests on her heart done because the doctors weren't sure of the "extent of the damage" when he checked her out before. Something in him told him it was bad anyways. Even before that episode she had been sleeping more than usual and snorting more. He had just thought it was because she was angry or bored or something but now he was wondering if she had been getting high to escape pain.

Despite the fact that she did love most drama, she wasn't the type to tell anyone if she didn't feel well or complain about it in anyway. For all he knew she could have been sick for months by now and he just didn't know about it.

He realized that she had been staring right into his eyes during his entire train of thought and wondered nervously whether she could tell what he was thinking.

After another moment she finally blinked her eyes shut for a second and then leaned forward to kiss him hard on the lips, scooting over so that she was close enough where her body was touching his. He let her kiss him and then put a hand at her upper arm to gently push her away and back down in the bed.

His tone was solid. "You're sick. You should rest or sleep or something." He moved to get up but she put a hand at his arm, stopping him with her touch.

"I'm tired of resting." She held up the comforter as a motion for him to join her underneath it. "Please?" She voice dripped with fake sweetness that was almost nauseating. But he still turned around and took off his shoes and jacket and laid down closely beside her.

"What do you want?"

She gave him her best seductive look. "What do you think I want?"

He rolled his eyes at her and gave her an _'are you kidding'_ look. "I'm not gonna screw you while you're ill."

"Why not? It's not like I'm contagious."

"Because…besides, look what happened last time."

And then a realization hit her and she actually almost felt guilty. He somehow thought it was his fault. But even she, as evil as she knew she was, didn't want him to think that. It wasn't. She never said anything, but she hadn't been feeling right for a while now, and it was because of her bad habits that she was sick. Not his. Not because of him.

"I am perfectly capable of having sex, thank you, I do it all the time. It has nothing to do with that."

He very suddenly turned and rolled over to where he was on top of her, straddling her waist and leaning down into her ear. It almost frightened her for a second. His tone sounded angry as he whispered the words harshly into her ear, sneering in disgust. "I love you, dammit. Why don't you take better care of yourself?"

She stared back at him stunned until she was forced to shut her eyes as he kissed her roughly and angrily. But it soon melted into a much more gentle one when she brought her hand up to gently touch the side of his cheek, caressing it just barely, probably for the first time to anyone in her life. One of his hands went to her face and the other to the back of her head to hold it up for her and she felt tears that didn't belong to her splattering down on her face. She lifted her other hand up to his back and rubbed it soothingly up and down underneath his shirt.

She had no idea what she was doing at this point other than kissing and trying to soothe her Sebastian. In truth, she was afraid and she knew he was afraid for her too. She knew that they both really did love each other even if she couldn't really understand it. But at this point her feeling were so far past just wanting to have sex with him that she didn't know what to call it. She wanted to melt into him, to be comforted for once and actually let him know how she felt.

He carefully put her head back down to rest on the pillow and laid down on top of her, careful not to crush her tiny body and wrapped both arms completely around her in an all engulfing hug. She kissed his neck gently and he did the same, working his way over back to her lips and then kissing them again slowly, still crying slightly. She continued to rub up and down his back and then finally lift his shirt up, wanting to feel him up against her instead of the material of his shirt.

He broke apart from her just long enough to help her get it off before rewrapping his arms around her, this time pulling up her slip in the process and recapturing her lips. Neither of them had felt half so needy as this in their lives. She finally broke away for a moment to catch her breath and he took the opportunity to remove his pants and her slip so that they were only separated by his boxers and her lacy underwear.

She seemed to be having a hard time catching her breath and he lifted himself off her farther worriedly, trying to give her more space to breathe.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded and after another moment evened out her breathing, afterwards not waiting a second to pull him back on her and reconnect their kiss. Soon after their underwear was gone and he carefully placed himself between her legs, being as gentle as he possibly could as he entered her.

He wanted to keep kissing her as he went but didn't want it to be too hard for her to keep her breath so instead he just petted her face with the hand he wasn't using to hold his weight off her. She actually smiled and placed her hand atop his that was holding him up on the mattress. He was even more careful with her this time than when he was with Annette, still afraid it might take too much out of her and make her worse.

She scooted closer to him as he rolled off beside her and put an arm around him affectionately. She was still new at that. He grinned in a way that made her almost smile back, though she held it in as usual, and he wrapped both arms around her, holding her up flush against his body as he had done before. He could feel her heart beat a bit irregularly and kissed her forehead as she snuggled her head against his shoulder.

"I love you." She mumbled just barely into his skin half hoping that he wouldn't hear. He did and he kissed her cheek.

"Promise me you'll stop." He whispered.

She removed her head from his shoulder to look at him. "Stop what?"

"The bulimia. Please promise me you'll stop. I don't want you to die."

She kissed him on the lips before replacing her head back in it's comfortable spot at his shoulder. "I already decided that I would. It's a gross habit anyways, but whatever...sure."


	6. discarded

I decided to continue with this story at least for now after all so here is the next chapter. Enjoy and remember to give feedback. And yes, this chapter is short, but I'll try to give a quicker update and post a longer one because of it.

She awoke early the next morning before her doctor's appointment and very slowly and carefully removed herself from Sebastian's arms. It was a tricky thing to do without waking him, as she was half underneath him with their legs entwined with each other's and both of his arms holding her up closely to him. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and realizing that she was smiling a moment before she quickly erased it from her face, disgusted with herself for letting such a thing appear of her face without directly meaning for it to. It took her nearly ten minutes to get completely out of bed and when she stood up the first thing she felt was dizziness.

She took a short bath and slowly got dressed. Every time she stood up or moved too quickly she felt a pain in her chest and lost her breath easily so the process of getting ready took a while. She called her limo driver and had him take her over to the hospital alone.

The appointment had been at nine and she did not return home until four. Sebastian was sitting on the couch waiting for her impatiently as she sauntered in holding her head high and with as perfect posture as always.

"Hello, Sebastian."

"Hello. Why didn't you wake me this morning, sis?" He asked politely but with more than a twinge of hurt or anger in his voice.

"Why, so you could follow me around like a puppy all day? I'll pass." Her voice had taken up a mocking tone as cold as ice.

Sebastian wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

She headed in the direction of her room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready. Places to go, people to see."

"But you're-" _Sick_ he was about to finish protesting. The way she held herself and spoke as if everything was normal didn't fool him for a second. He could see that her breathing was labored for just standing there and walking up the stairs on her own in those high heels.

But she cut him off. "Busy, and I would thank you to leave me alone. I'm tired of your company." She finished before walking of to her room. As soon as she got there and had the door shut she let herself melt to the floor and tears that she had been holding fell down her cheeks silently.

She took out her cross and sniffed a generous portion of coke before pulling out her cell phone. She dialed the new headmaster's number and wiped away the tears from her cheeks roughly with the back of her hand.

"Hello, Headmaster Hargrove?"

She smiled as he answered. "Yes, this is Katherine Mertuil, student body president at Manchester Prep. I have some disturbing news that I feel is my responsibility to inform you of…"

An hour later she returned freshened up and changed from her room and left. Sebastian went into her room and tried to find the purse she had taken to the hospital. It was sitting plainly on her dresser and Sebastian did not hesitate to look inside it for some kind of clue. All he found was three prescriptions and folded piece of paper. Just as he was about to unfold and read it, however, he heard the sound of high-heeled footprints headed in his direction and quickly hid inside Katherine's closet.

She entered the room and sat down, taking a moment to catch her breath and then grabbed the paper and prescriptions from her other purse before coming up to the closet he was hiding in, opening the door and huffing out a "get out of here, Sebastian." She followed him out and actually locked the door behind her. She never did that before. Neither of them did, although they walked in on and spied on each other all the time. Even when she was furious at him she had never locked him out of her room like she had just done. Sebastian didn't know what to make of it.

Finally he just asked her what he had wanted to know all day. "Are you ok, Katherine?" The boy reached out to touch her hair and she smacked his hand away, giving him the ice bitch stare like he had just done something unforgivable.

"I don't have time for this, I'll be late for my date. Goodbye, Sebastian." And with that she stomped right out door and to her waiting limo downstairs on the street.

School started back five days later. It had puzzled Sebastian, but he had never seen Katherine quite so determined to perform her Mary sunshine act to perfection. He found it hilarious and yet it made him sick at the same time watching it. She had never acted so distant from him before. She didn't even tease or flirt.

Something was so beyond wrong he couldn't even comprehend it. He was not sure if it had anything to do with her illness but he had noticed when she disappeared the day after her appointment for four days and only returned the night before school started back. Her servant seemed to know where she was, but Sebastian didn't speak Vietnamese. His language skills were limited to only English and French. Katherine was fluent in four languages. She no longer wore the sluttish clothes that showed off her breasts either, but instead, opted to keep them covered and wear shorter skirts.

Had she had some kind of surgery without even telling him? The possibility hurt his feelings but really didn't surprise him. Katherine liked to be dominant. Anything or anyone that could make her look weak in the eyes of others she quickly discarded. Maybe that included him now as well. Not that he had imagined walking through the halls in school holding her hand like some pussy whipped twerp. But maybe she didn't want to take the chance that he had. It was like he had finally taking that step forward with Katherine after so many years only to be told to take two steps back.

She stood up in front of the assembly on the first day of school and began to give her speech up on the platform that she read from note cards she had probably made the night before. Her voice dripped with fake sincerity and enthusiasm about how they all as students should try to make the best of the school year, apply ourselves as students and members of the community, and resist negative peer pressure.

Sebastian sat and watched until, about halfway through, the new headmaster found him and pulled him aside, saying that they had some things to discuss later in a tone that could only mean bad things. He glanced up to Katherine as he did this and saw her looking right at him with an evil grin and began to worry. Not because she probably told the headmaster about Annette, but because he noticed how she was leaning part of her weight on the podium and looked as pale as she had last time he had found her passed out. He watched carefully as she finished her speech and left the stage for the headmaster to talk.

He quietly left his seat and followed in the general direction she was headed to see if she were all right. But she went into the girl's bathroom where he couldn't follow.

The next thing he knew there was a strong hand gripping his arm and jerking him around.


	7. tutoring Cecile

_Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to update, serious writer's block issues were going on so...but I hope you enjoy this chapter! And, also i'll just apologize in advance because I know it's not one of my better chapters...but I needed it to set up for next chapter. (Also, if anyone knows how to spell Katherine's servant's name, would you mind letting me know? thanks) _

"Son." Sebastian swung around to see his father standing not a foot from him and almost ran into him accidentally.

"Uh-" He was thrown off kilter a bit since he had forgotten that both their parents would be there. They were always there for things like this to socialize with the other socialite parents and to make themselves look like the dedicated wonderful parents that they were anything but. "Hello, father. How was Bali?"

His father smirked in much the same way Sebastian usually did after he had just finished with some new conquest. It sickened Sebastian that he was so much like his father because he hated the man so much, but at least he was better than his stepmother. Katherine's mother was horrible. But, just like Katherine, she always managed to look perfect and pristine to everyone else. Of course, for the most part she left him alone as did Sebastian's father did to Katherine…not that he hadn't caught his dear old dad looking at her ass a few times, even if she was his step daughter.

Whenever he was at home Sebastian noticed that she stayed closer to him and away from his father as much as possible. It's not like anything had ever happened to Sebastian's knowledge, and he was perceptive enough to be pretty sure he would have known if it had, but he didn't blame her for being uncomfortable. His father had no conscious about anything he did.

Though out of the two of them he wasn't sure which Katherine was less comfortable around. His father might always be looking at her in an inappropriate way but, until he moved into the same house as Katherine's mother, he had no idea it was possible for a parent to criticize their child as much as she did Katherine. Nothing she ever did was right, no matter what is was. He had never even heard the woman mutter two sentences to Katherine that weren't criticizing her. Katherine's ice bitch stare looked more like a melted slushy compared to her mother's. It was probably why she put on such an act for everyone.

"How has everything been this summer?" He asked, patting the hand that was still placed on Sebastian's shoulder before finally removing it.

"Very sunny. Spent a lot of time out in the country. Mother told you about Katherine, I assume?" It sickened him that he had to call that woman 'mother' but both of them had insisting on it, just as they had about Katherine calling his father 'father'. He knew she hated it even worse than him. Unlike himself, she already had a father and he had loved her. It was very plain to everyone that Katherine detested being made to call him that. And because she couldn't quite pretend that it was absolutely peachy to her to perfection, it just gave her mother another thing to criticize her about.

The man nodded. "Oh, yes. Very unfortunate, had me and her mother very worried." One of the major things that distinguished between their two parents was the small fact that Katherine's mother was a convincing liar, while his father was not. Both of them knew that neither of their parents had spent more than two minutes thinking or worried about it put together.

Sebastian only glared at him. Seeing that Sebastian was obviously not convinced or pleased, he changed the subject. "You two should come out to dinner with us tonight. All of us together, we'll have to some family time." One of the single mothers walked up from behind Sebastian, grabbing his father's short attention span away and he moved to go after the woman, obviously liking what he saw. "Nice talking to you, son."

He was about to return to his search for Katherine when Headmaster Hargrove swiftly walked up to him, obviously wanting to catch him alone.

"Sebastian Valmont?"

Sebastian turned to fully face him, wanting to get the intimidating lecture and punishment out of the way. "Yes, sir? Oh, Headmaster Hargrove, it's nice to meet you. I heard you were planning on making some excellent changes to the school curriculum this year." He let out smoothly in his best effort to be charming.

"Yes, yes, well, that isn't the reason that I wanted to talk to you today, I'm afraid." He clamped a friendly hand on Sebastian's back and led him outside away from the crowds. "I got a call from our student body president a few days ago. You know her, I'm sure, Katherine Mertuil?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, you could say that we're acquaintances. Is there some sort of problem?"

The man laughed. "No, no, son. Why would you think there would be a problem?" Not waiting for an another, he continued. "She just informed me off all the community service and peer tutoring you have been doing over the summer and I wanted to see that you got your due."

"Tutoring?" Sebastian asked, confused.

"Ah, yes, to a Cecile Caldwell?"

Sebastian nearly choked, eyes becoming huge for a moment before he remembered appearances and quickly blanked out his face of any kind of emotion. "Oh, Cecil, yes, um, right."

"Well, it seems that the student secretary has transferred out to another school at the last minute and so I thought, actually, Ms. Mertuil suggested, that maybe you would like to fill the position? It would look wonderful on your college applications."

Sebastian smiled, still bewildered at whatever was going on. "Sure, thank you."

Annette's father just smiled brightly and patted Sebastian on the back once before walking away. He could see Katherine now, dutifully standing beside her bitch of a mother with a fake smile plastered unto her face while her mother chatted with a friend. His father came up to them and kissed her mother on the cheek before hugging Katherine a little too closely. He let her go finally but kept a hand low at the back of her waist, letting it slowly creep down farther and Katherine scanned the crowd, quickly spotting him and giving him her _'I don't need you and I'm too proud to beg, but please, for the love of God, come save me' _look.

He smiled at her and shook his head a little at the first thing she'd done in nearly a week to suggest they knew each other. He quickly walked over, and wrapped his own arm around Katherine's shoulder, gently pulling her away from his father and muttering a polite excuse for them to leave before walking her over to his car. She didn't say thank you, she never did, and he wasn't expecting her to. In the safety of the parking lot, she undid her cross and quickly snorted a little coke while no one was looking.

"Take me home, Sebastian." She said as a soft command instead of question. "Your father wants to take us out to dinner tonight and I want to rest before going."

"Sure, sis." He opened her door for her and then went to get into his own, driving them both away from the crowded prep school.

Turning on the radio, Meredith Brooks song 'Bitch' had just began playing and he laughed, always being reminded of his dear little stepsister by that song.

She rolled her eyes, as if she knew exactly what was running through his head. In all likely hood she probably did. For someone who claimed to love her, he sure did call her a bitch a lot. But, she guessed, it was just one of the millions of messed up things concerning their family's relationship.

"So how did the surgery go?" He asked arbitrarily.

Her head snapped over to stare at him. "Excuse me?"

He let out a little laugh. "Why else would you leave for days at a time and stop wearing those revealing shirts of yours?" His tone was slightly angry and it would served to make her angry as well. He parallel parked the car into a no parking zone as usual in front of their house and followed her as she stormed into the house.

As soon as they had gotten inside, not even bothering to dismiss her Vietnamese servant from the living room she snatched off her shirt to reveal her skin as perfect and smooth as ever with no hint of any surgery scar.

Sebastian stared in surprise.

"What? Didn't find what you were looking for?" She slowly put her shirt back on over her head in her usual seductive manner and sat down on the couch. She covered it up very well, even to the point that Sebastian didn't notice, but she was feeling dizzy.

Her face stared at him mockingly. "Maybe, some of us have actual lives, Sebastian."

He knew that there was something she wasn't telling him, but that was just Katherine. He finally decided to just try to let it go. Something big was going on, but she wasn't going to tell him and he couldn't figure it out right now.

"Fine." He stormed out of the room.

She waited until he was gone before attempting to get up.


	8. a perfect lady

The restaurant they sat in was fancy and dimly lighted. Kathryn was wearing a dark maroon dress with little flowers on it. It was new. It reached her knees and wasn't particularly low cut, but fit closely to her figure and didn't have sleeves. They sat at a round table with a white cloth over it. Sebastian sat between his father and Kathryn, and Kathryn beside her mother who was sitting on the other side of his father.

They were on the second course, which involved salad with oysters and little crab legs. Kathryn loved crab legs, but she politely picked them off to the side, unwilling to make any noise cracking them. Her mother would have killed her had she started to. Sebastian cracked away at his, using the most polite and noiseless way to do it, of course. Kathryn's mother glared at her as she ate her barely picked at food. Every forkful was tiny, and she was expected to eat very little of it.

She bit off another bite from her fork, silently chewing and staring down at her plate with the hand she wasn't using in her lap over the cloth napkin.

"Darling, are you planning on entering a prized pig contest? It seems like overeating is becoming a problem. No wonder you've put on those extra pounds."

Kathryn glanced at her mother apologetically with a hurt expression behind her eyes before putting her fork down and placing her other hand in her lap as well. She'd barely eaten a thing since they had gotten there.

"I think she looks wonderful." Sebastian commented daringly, with his usual _I'll do and say what I want_ attitude, discreetly rubbing his step sister's thigh through her dress under the table. Usually he didn't get involved in her mother's bickering at her and even enjoyed it, as she seemed to be the one person who could actually quite easily hurt Kathryn's feelings. But he didn't want Kathryn to get the idea that she had even one pound on her that was too much. She was already a little too thin in his view. With a mother like that no wonder she was a bulimic.

His father smiled. "So do I. You should be proud Margarette, she's a very beautiful young woman. Don't you think, son?"

Sebastian grinned at the fact that his father had just asked him his thoughts on the matter as if he hadn't already said it just then. "Stunning."

Her mother let out an annoyed breath. "Well, I just hope she doesn't mar the family name too horribly. It's bad enough that she's overweight, now with this health thing" she said with a look that made it clear that she would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't such an impeccable lady "I'll never get her married off well into society."

Kathryn kept her daze down at her plate at the food she wasn't allowed to eat as a distraction. She couldn't look up in case the look in her eye portrayed weakness in being hurt at her mother's words.

Sebastian did roll his eyes. She was always talking about marrying off Kathryn 'well' as if they were living in the eighteenth century instead of the twenty first. It was ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that Kathryn was still in high school and only eighteen. She wouldn't need to be married for years. He laughed to himself a little involuntarily and Kathryn kicked him under the table. Her mother still expected Kathryn was a pristine little untouched virgin who had never gone past first base.

Sebastian decided to change the subject. "The headmaster made me student body secretary at school today."

"Oh, well, that's good, son." He turned to Kathryn. "Aren't you in some sort of school office too?"

Kathryn nodded politely and gave a small smile. "Student body president."

"Oh, good, you know I was just thinking-" Her mother interrupted him in the middle of his sentence though.

"Darling, would you mind ordering some more wine, my glass has been empty for over a minute now and I don't see a waitress in sight. This is the absolute last time we'll be eating here."

He smiled. "Sure."

And the night dragged on for close to another hour before they finally got home. On the way back with Kathryn and Sebastian in the back seat of his father's very expensive car, Kathryn tried to sit up strait and behave like a perfect lady, staying silent with her hands folded in her lap as she was supposed to. The fatigue she had been feeling lately kicked in again, however, as the traffic was horrible and it would take them another hour to get home at the pace they going.

She shut her eyes for just a moment and before she knew it her head ended up against Sebastian's shoulder. It was an accident, and even normally without her mother present she would have opted to lean against the window instead to avoid looking to weak or affectionate. Sebastian looked down at the top of his sleeping sister's head and didn't move her. He could see her mother unhappily glaring daggers at them in the mirror, but he still didn't move her.

She quickly woke up when they neared the house and got a lecture as if it were her fault, but was still so sleepy that she nearly fell back asleep in the middle of it. If she had there would have been hell to pay, she yawned accidentally once and that was bad enough. She lagged behind her mother and step father as they got out of the car and walked up the stairs into the house, although she was trying her best to keep her posture and walk as quickly as them. Sebastian walked even slower behind her, always afraid lately of her fainting again and wondering what their parents would do about it if she did.

She stumbled once in her high heels that she could usually walk perfectly in while going up the stone steps. He had steadied her, catching her arms quickly from behind and continued to walk in beside and slightly behind her with a hand at her upper back just incase. She looked like she was half asleep still, if she hadn't been she would be angry at him for doing that.

She went straight to her room once inside. His father grinned and moved to go "check on her" but Sebastian quickly volunteered to do it for him and moved too fast for him to object. Nothing had ever happened, but that didn't mean he trusted his father to be alone with Kathryn in her room when she was half asleep and probably changing into her night clothes. He knocked so his parents could hear him knocking, but didn't bother waiting for an answer. He had been right, she was sitting on her bed taking her hair down and beginning to change. He walked over to the dresser and got out a slip for her, bringing it over to the bed so she wouldn't have to get up again.

She took it from him as he handed it to her and he grinned and said "goodnight" before turning around and leaving, she called out after him to say "night" too.

His parents were both still in the living room discussing something and his father patted him on the back once, a little too hard as he re entered the room. Not wanting to be forced to spend any more time with either of them, he said he was tired as well and was going to bed, giving him an excuse to seek sanctuary and, a few hours later, go to sleep himself.

It was in the middle of the night and he had been dreaming when he heard the door open. It had been nice, whatever it was he was dreaming about and he wanted to get back to it, but the second he blinked open his eyes he forgot what it was about. The large wooden door to his room creaked loudly as it opened and he sat up to look at who was coming in.

When they were little, as their parents had their affairs with each other, she would stay over with her mother at his father's house they used to live in sometimes. They were very young, five or six maybe when it began. And it never failed that when they were there together, their parents probably going at it in some unnamed part of the house, Kathryn would always end up creeping into his room in the middle of the night and climb into bed with him. Nightmares, probably, he had always figured, though she never gave any explanation for why she did this and he had never asked.

Of course, as soon as she was old enough to understand that she was not supposed to need anyone and had to act like a perfect lady twenty four seven this had stopped. But still, he could remember the numerous nights she had snuck in and snuggled up to him like he was some sort of teddy bear. She never had one that she actually slept with. Her mother said it was pathetic and took away the one her father had given her. He almost laughed to himself when he thought about it. It did reinforce her toy theory, though, whether he liked it or not. Of course, if being her toy meant that she would sleep with him every night, he might just have to rethink the fact that it bothered him so much.

Rain poured outside steadily. It had been beautiful earlier that day, but now it was pouring. The weather was as bipolar as Kathryn acted sometimes, though he was sure she knew exactly what she was doing by acting that way. As easy as it would be to just write her of as a sociopathic crazy person, he knew her too well to really believe that. She was just miserable, bored, and much more intellegent than most people. It was almost pitch dark, the only light in the room issuing from the dim street lights outside coming in through the tiny crack between where the thick curtains met covering the window. But he could still see her once his eyes became adjusted. She just stood there looking at him from the door that she had slowly closed behind her a minute before in her little white night slip that he had gotten for her earlier. And she said nothing.

He grinned and lifted up the covers on one side as a gesture for her to come climb in and sleep in his bed with him. Same as they used to when they were children. She walked over to the side of the bed and stared at him for a long moment with her big hazel eyes before climbing in and covering up. She scooted backwards closer to him and he finished closing the gap. Both of them ended up laying right in the middle closely up against each other. She turned her head for a moment and kissed him once on the cheek before settling her head on the pillow close to his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her carefully, rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly for a moment before settling it over her waist and pulling her as much closer to him as was possible. Her skin felt cold and her hair smelled like vanilla. He kissed the back of her head.

Unless this was just part of some big plan of hers somehow something had to be horribly wrong for Kathryn to admit she needed him by an act such as that. She had been acting weirder than usual lately, but he didn't want to think about it. He just wanted to enjoy the moment and wish she would always sleep with him like this at night.

Though both of them were very sexual by their nature, it was nice just getting to be close and sleep together. Being with her like that was something that no other experience he ever had really compared to, and that was when she wasn't even at her best. But he loved her for so much more than her body that it reached a place he couldn't quite comprehend. He didn't just want sex with Kathryn, he wanted Kathryn. All of her.

They could hurt and toy with each other as much as they wanted, but when it came down to it neither of them could ever truly belong to anyone else. The cold, evil, bitchy, brilliant, beautiful girl in his arms currently pretending that she wasn't crying was all his and always would be. And he held her and they were together, at least then if not in the morning.

He bent down and kissed the side of her head again as he gently wiped away the silent tears running down her pretty cheeks with the back of his fingers before caressing the side of her face carefully and running his fingers through the brown locks of hair behind her. On a normal day there was no way Kathryn would let him see this. He was quite sure that this would never happen again. She was actually letting him have all of her for once. She rubbed her head against his shoulder and stayed close to him. And he wanted to ask her what could possibly be so wrong that she would give this to him, but knew it would only ruin the moment and make her leave. And he was beginning to really be terrified of the answer. Her silent crying continued until she finally fell asleep and he wished they were children again so his holding her as she slept didn't mean something horrible.

She was gone before he woke up. He had expected her to be. He felt it when she left, early in the morning not long after the sun came up, but didn't try to stop her. He knew that there was no stopping Kathryn. She would only give him what she wanted him to have and he had learned from experience not to dare ask for more. So he just let her come and go as she pleased and got ready for school.

She's sitting in the front seat of his nineteen fifty six jaguar roadster with her hands in her lap looking around at the traffic on the street politely waiting for him to drive the two of them to school. She looks bored and normal now, any hints of the previous night's tears completely gone. Of course, neither of them would ever mention it or say a word about it again. He opened the door to near the driver's seat and pulled away from the curb.

And they were a normal pair of step brother and sister while they sat in traffic. No one would ever know how they loved each other, she thought. _Is it perverted to love someone as both sibling and lover? To have the closeness and history of a brother and sister but deep wanting for the other in a way that was so, so much more? Did it matter? Did either of them care if it was wrong? No, _she thought to herself. She gave her face one last look in the mirror before getting out and walking through the school parking lot, head held high and ready for the day.


	9. reason for being a bitch

"I have a proposal." Kathryn stated as she finished up her homework in her room that night.

"Well, as much as I would like to accept, I'm pretty sure it would tarnish your pristine reputation beyond repair for you to marry your own brother before you left high school." Sebastian had made up excuses to do his in her room as well. She looked exhausted from being up all day at school and he was worried about her. Plus their parents were still home for some reason or another and he had no desire to see them or to watch his father feel his step sister up again. Every time he came home and saw Kathryn she seemed to become more and more appealing to him.

"Very funny dear step brother. I was referring to a project of mine I want you to help me with."

"Sorry, I'm not interested in book reports if that's what your asking."

He felt her hand at his thigh. "Hardly."

He tried to concentrate on her words instead of her upward traveling hand. "What do you want?"

She smiled, moving her hand to his belt buckle teasingly. "You hate our family."

He grinned. She unbuckled his belt and began to unbutton his pants when he pulled her up into his lap by her waist and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer and deepened the already open mouthed kiss…and then her mother walked in.

Sebastian snapped his head away from Kathryn and towards Tiffany and Kathryn calmly looked over to her as well in her own sweet time.

"What the-" She stormed into the room farther, grabbing Kathryn by the arm and jerking her off of her step son's lap.

"What the hell is going on here?!" She jerked Kathryn over to her bed and then went to kick Sebastian out.

"Ah-uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, mother."

She froze in her place, still holding Sebastian by the shoulder of his shirt and turned around to face her daughter.

"And why not, _darling_?"

"Because if you do, I might be tempted to tell everyone about all those incidents with father before you were married." The two women seemed to have a stare down contest, battling for dominance. Kathryn continued. "When he would come into my room at night." Sebastian's face dropped and he visibly became a little green.

"That never happened!" Tiffany yelled as if it was something they had argued over before. Sebastian just stared at the two as he fought, trying to figure out whether or not he believed Kathryn's accusations.

"Like he came into my room last night!" He had been trying to stay skeptical to her craziness, not wanting to believe her, but that last thing she said did it. He knew something was wrong last night. It takes something pretty big to make Kathryn cry and admit weakness.

"You're a liar you little bitch!"

Kathryn calmly stood up and walked up to her mother defiantly, voice gaining confidence with every second. "Who do you think everyone u'll believe?" Tiffany's face became furious and she slapped her daughter hard across the face before storming out.

Sebastian waited frozen in his place for a moment before snapping out of it and going up to Kathryn who met his eyes with no hesitation. "Is it a lie? Is it a lie!?" He didn't know how to handle this and just kept hoping that she was just finally extending her scheming to their parents and not telling the truth.

She continued to look him in the eye. "What did you think always I snuck into your room for? To cuddle? And you never even questioned why I hate him so much." She seemed angry at him.

He kept trying to speak, but only stutters came out and even they fell on deaf ears. "I've got to wrap this up. I want everyone to get theirs before it's too late."

"Does that include me?" He finally managed out when she reached familiar territory to him. She intended on punishing people and that he at least expected and knew how to react to.

She put a hand up to his face and caressed the side of his check. "No, Sebastian. Not now. You honestly do love me, don't you?"

"Do you have to ask?" She waited for the answer anyhow with an annoyed and bored look on her face.

"Yes."

Kathryn smiled and kissed him affectionately with a warmth and sadness it surprised him to feel she was capable of. "Then you'll get worse than anything I could do to anyone else without me having to lift a finger against you." She seemed to drift somewhat into thought. "Not now." She repeated to herself.

He chose not to ponder on those words for the moment in lieu of storming out the door with the intention of beating his father to a bloody pulp. Of course, Kathryn didn't want let him however, saying that it would interfere with her plans. But that didn't stop him and he soon found his father's face with his fist.

At first, the man was too surprised to do anything but put a hand over his now bloody nose and look at Sebastian in shock. But then he grabbed at his son and swung back, not bothering to ask any questions. He knew what it was for as soon as he saw Sebastian had done it. Kathryn told him and he believed her over his own father.

"My own father, you bastard! You raped my Kathryn!"

"What, do you mean your stepsister?" Sebastian was surprised he had caught that in the present situation.

"I didn't rape her, she wanted it. She wanted the man of the family." His father let out in a cocky tone.

Sebastian gave him a nasty shiner for that one. "You're sick!"

"At least I'm not in love with my own sister!" He had never been so angry in his life. He was so angry that he could kill…_wait what if that's what she wanted…what if she did seduce him? _

He didn't know what to do, so he back up slowly and tried to think. "You get the fuck out of here, now! Say you have an urgent business call or something but get out!"

He stormed back into Kathryn's room, going strait over to where she was resting on her bed.

"Tell me how it happened!"

Her eyes rested on him slowly, like they might lose themselves to sleep at any moment, but her chest rose sharply at every breath as if she had been running. "You're yelling at _me_?" She was trying to guilt him out of making her answer but he was much too upset by now to let it work.

She sighed loudly and dramatically and gently patted the side of her bed. "It started not long after our parents started their affair. When I got older I fought and he stopped. I assume it was because he knew I could do something. But when he knew my…present situation it must've made him think that he could just…"

Kathryn was a manipulating backstabber, but if you really paid attention to her like her stepbrother did, you would notice that she never actually lies. She just twists the truth. He had to make her say it strait out before he could believe it for sure.

"But what exactly happened?"

She gave him a look that made it clear she wanted to kill him at the moment for asking her that. "Dear brother can't trust his sister when she tells him what daddy does." He could she her roll her eyes out of the side of his own.

"Want details? Wanna know how he would cover my mouth so I wouldn't scream while put himself in? How he would grin at me the whole time like it was funny? How he would tell me not to sleep with anyone because it would ruin me to him?" Sebastian was getting greener by the second and so mad he had to hold back tears, but she still continued. "What details exactly do you want? Come on Sebastian. What about how he liked to do it on the floor, wanna know about that?" She finally broke down, clenching her jaw to prevent herself from crying. He shook his head 'no' and she leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He half yelled, half whispered to her. He reached out to touch her shoulder and she jerked away.

"So everyone could look at me the little victim. I don't think so. He might be a dog but I've every intention of being the lion who picks his bones. Going public would just humiliate me and ruin my chances of getting revenge."

He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to avoid tears. His face went from a sickly green to an angry red. He wasn't really nearly as mad at her for not telling him as he was hurt. "But why didn't you tell _me_?"

She stood up gracefully and opened the door to her bedroom as a signal for him to leave. She didn't have an acceptable answer for that one. Not one that he could ever know. _I was afraid you would be disgusted and never look at me the same. Like I was the one thing you wanted most. Like you actually cared whether I was alive or dead despite whatever bull shit we do to each other. Like you loved me. _She would never tell him that.

He went to his room to call Blaine. He couldn't stay here. He was too angry and frustrated. He heard Kathryn's mother and his father leave and a few minutes before went to go to Blaine's for a while. He checked in on Kathryn before leaving to see her napping in her bed asleep. He wasn't surprised considering how easily she tired lately and how long the school day had been and the huge situation that came afterwards. _God, no wonder she's a bitch. All these years I was totally wrong about her._

She didn't hear him leave. Or her mother actually. She was exhausted for being at school all day and a little disturbed at how hard going all day had been on her. A kind of day she would have to repeat four more days of before the weekend even came. Then there was her family and Sebastian. She knew what she was doing, by ruining their parents and wanted it, but still had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her to be on guard.

She had a few strawberries and then laid down for a nap, but woke up to her someone knocking at her door not too long after. He didn't wait to come in after knocking and she didn't bother to turn around to look. She let herself stay mostly asleep and didn't turn to face whoever had come into her room. After a moment, she felt him sit down on the side of her bed and put a hand at her waist.

Kathryn blinked her eyes awake slowly but didn't move to see him. "Leave me alone, Sebastian, I'm trying to sleep." Something didn't feel right. She felt his hand reach around to her breasts and looked down to see that it wasn't Sebastian's.

"I thought you were doing your homework."


	10. Silence

_Author's note: __**this whole chapter is rated M**__ for language, violence, and just the whole situation…if anyone isn't old enough or would prefer not to read it, message me and I'll try to write up a cleaned version to the best of my ability for you._

Her eyes snapped open and she quickly turned around. Without waiting for a response he asked "Or were you too busy lying to everyone you little bitch?"

The immediate sirens in her head told her to try to run. But that just wasn't her style. She wasn't going to display such weakness.

"I'm sorry father, I didn't realize it would hurt your feelings to have your son know what a bastard you are."

A sharp sting flushed the skin on her cheek red as he slapped her hard. A pair of tough, strong hands grabbed her upper arms and jerked her down in the mattress on her back. "Bastard? Bastard! You want to see a bastard? I'll give you bastard!"

She swallowed the forming lump in the back of her throat threatening to choke her to death as best she could despite the tightly gripping hand that was now around her neck. She felt him jerking her clothes around and heard a rip.

"You don't…" she tried to breathe "want to do that." He paid her no attention as he tore open her shirt.

"You want to feel pain like a bastard would give?" She tried to take another breath but his hand was too tight and none came. Her heart raced faster and faster from panic due to the lack of air. Her chest felt as if it were going to explode at any moment. He was already making her bleed and seemed to make it painful as possible on purpose.

She attempted one last time to gasp out for breath before she felt something change in her chest for just a short moment. The pounding fast racing of her heart slowed suddenly and she couldn't see from the edges of her eyes. Blackness took over until she could see nothing…until she could feel nothing.

"Kathryn? Where are the keys to my car? Are you a thief now as well as a liar?" Tiffany called as she walked right into the room without knocking or waiting for an answer. But as soon as she was in two feet and saw the scene in front of her she stopped in her tracks, only a small gasp escaping her mouth. Her husband looked up at her with a cold uncaring gaze as he kept going as if nothing had happened. Tiffany didn't move and a few moments later he finished, stood up, zipped his pants, and walked over to her unconcerned.

Kathryn was bloody, bruised, and still. Too still. Tiffany slowly walked over to her and looked down to her daughter's paled face for a long moment before looking back at where her husband still stood.

"You've killed our daughter." She said quietly.

He said nothing.

* * *

Sometimes the world stops. Or it should. And then it made Sebastian all the more angry that it didn't. It should have in his opinion. He had come home to a silent house. He needed to see her, needed to fix this.

She wasn't in her bed. The bed was stripped of it's dark blue shimery sheets. The room was empty and a heavy feeling of dread fell over him. The very air seemed to scream at him about how wrong this was. About how something horrible and unknown had happened that threatened to grab him at any moment and bring him to places that even nightmares couldn't reach.

There was smeared blood in the hallway. Everything was way too quiet. His parents suitcases were strewn about their room, looking as if they had been packed and then partially unpacked and knocked over.

He went into his room in one last attempt to find Kathryn, but already there was a persistent voice in the back of his head whispering to him things he did not want to hear. No one was there. No one answered any of his calls as he moved around the room like maybe she was just hiding from him and any minute she would come out. They used to play hide and go seek as children. She had always been able to disappear...but then he had always been able to find her eventually.

But finally he gave up and sat down on the side of his bed, letting the nightmarish silence overtake and fill him. That's when he realized that there was something in the silence. That it wasn't really silence at all. Something was in the closet. He walked closer. Sobbing sounds. His hand felt unsteady as he reached out to the door knob and he opened it quickly.

Mei-lee was sitting scrunched up on the floor holding a limp Kathryn and sobbing as she rocked back and forth with the girl's upper body in her lap. She jumped when he opened the door, but when she saw it was him she quickly began yelling frantically in Vietnamese. He couldn't understand a word, but quickly swept Kathryn up and carried her over to the bed, Mei-lee running out of the room and then running back in with a phone and motioning him to use it. After only a moment looking at Kathryn he did and called 911, but he cried as he did so. Her clothes were ripped. There were bruises around her neck and collarbone and upper arms. He couldn't bring himself to look anywhere else. She wasn't breathing.

Their parents stormed back into the house through the door and slammed it shut. "If she was dead she would still be in the car!"

"You think she's alive?"

"Of course I think she's alive, Tiff, one minute she's in the bag in the car where I put her and then she's gone! Dead people don't disappear like that!" He continued to yell as he backed in through the doorway of the house so he could face his wife.

"Shh! Somebody might hear you!"

"And do what? If she's not dead than there's no crime!"

"She's underage, they'll get you for that."

"I thought she already turned eighteen. Wasn't her birthday sometime last month?"  
"Well I don't know!"

"Well, you should know you're her mother!"

"Oh, look who's talking Mr. father of the month who just raped and killed his own daughter!"

He spun around in a rage and pinned his wife against a wall. "I did not rape her, she seduced me, and besides, she's not my daughter and she's not dead."

He let go and Tiffany stood up straighter to compose herself. "We don't have time for this. We need to calm down and find her before she gets away and spins this all around on us."

Sebastian walked out from his bedroom down the hall holding a small tape. "Oh, it's not just her you need to worry about." He fanned out the tape tauntingly.

"Where is she?" Tiffany asked with a tone to her voice that couldn't decide between worry and anger.

"The police and paramedics will be here any minute." He turned to look his father in the eye. "You better pray that she lives through this."

He watched as his father took out his checkbook and pen. "Alright, son, alright. Lets all calm down. What do you want?"

He was trying to pay his own son off to shut up about what he had just done and it made Sebastian sick. "I want you to tell me the truth! Damn it! Does it matter to either one of you that you've been slowly killing her? She might die! Do you even care?" Tears spilled out as he spoke with a quivering voice to the two inhuman adults in front of him.

His father was getting nervous and he could tell, but he could also see the wheels going around in Tiffany's head, even as her husband spoke. "Son, let's not get over excited. We both know that you care for your sister very much and that you're just looking out for her well interest, but do you think that having us both arrested will accomplish that?"

Tiffany patted her husband lightly on the back in a belittling way that suggested him to be stupid. "Honey, let me handle this. Look, Sebastian, your sister is very sick. She had a serious heart problem that's caused too much damage. There's nothing anyone can do about that. And if any stress me or your father may had unintentionally caused has contributed to this…self inflicted harm, than we're both very sorry. But she knew she wasn't supposed to over exert herself and doing so anyways caused her heart to stop. It wasn't anything we did."

"No! Just shut up! Stop lying!" He could see the paramedics running up the outside steps through a large window to the side of them. "You did this to her and then you put her in a bag and stuffed her in your car to try to cover it up?"

He finally removed his stare from his father and placed it intently onto Tiffany. "You heartless bitch, she was your daughter!"He yelled this with a tone to his voice that screamed _why? _But when she only stared coldly at him he continued. "I guess old dad's money is worth more to you than Kathryn."

The paramedics came in and he pointed to the room he left her in. They rushed past him into it. Sebastian made one last comment before he followed.

"If she dies I'll see to it that you both go to prison and the whole world knows what you've done!"

"And if she doesn't?" His father asked quietly as he turned his back to go to Kathryn.

He didn't bother to turn back around. "I'll think about it."

But before he could even get all the way into the room they were already rushing her out, one of them pumping a hand ventilator as they went. Mei-lee ran to him, tears still spilling down her cheeks and pushed a small book at him. He didn't have time to worry or look down at it much, but he brought it with him as he left without a second glance at either Mei-lee or his parents.


	11. shattered glass

author's note: Yes, I am very well aware how long it has been since my last update and I apologize because it bugs me when other authors' do that too. My life has just gotten ten thousand times more busy and that's not something likely to change any time soon. You will be glad to hear that I do fully intend to finish this story...I'm just not sure how long it will take me. Again, sorry. But I want to thank everyone who gave feedback, it's really encouraging to get and is the main reason i'm going to continue to try to finish this story. Here's the next chapter, hope everyone likes it.

_"Daddy?"_

"_Yes, princess?"_

"_I don't wanna go with mother."_

"_It's her weekend, honey, you have to."_

"_No."_

"_Princess-"_

"_No!"_

"_Your mother loves you very much and it would upset her if you're acting like this when she gets here."_

"_I wanna stay with you!" Tears fell freely down her plump cheeks as she spoke. "It hurts."  
"What hurts?"_

"_I don't wanna go!"_

_He picked the young girl up and held her head to his shoulder comfortingly. "Shush. It'll be ok. It's just the weekend. And maybe you'll even get to see Sebastian. I know you two are very good friends."_

"_No we're not. I hate him. He thinks he knows everything."_

"_That could also be said about a certain little girl of mine."_

"_Your mother said you two have sleepovers all the time. Don't you like that?"_

"_No! His daddy does! I hate it! I hate it! I don't wanna go! You can't make me!"_

_The man took in a big breath and sat down on a large chair with his daughter on one knee. "Oh, ok. Listen, sometimes adults like to have sleepovers too. It's ok. There's nothing wrong with it anymore, daddy and mommy are divorced now so she can sleep over with whomever she wants and it's ok. It's none of our business."_

"_But why do I have to go?"_

"_Angel, it's her weekend, there's nothing I can do. But you and Sebastian will get along this time. I hear he's growing into a very nice boy. Maybe you two will be brother and sister some day…wouldn't you like that?"_

_She looked up at him as if contemplating whether or not she wanted to stop crying. "He'd come live with us?"_

"_No, no, no. He and his father would go live with your mother."_

* * *

"Why won't they tell me anything?" Sebastian more yelled than asked a nurse.

"I'm sorry. The doctor will be out to talk with you as soon as he gets a chance." She walked away hurriedly and he collapsed back down into the uncomfortable vinyl chair in the waiting room. He had been there for three hours, journal in hand. He wasn't sure why Mei-lee had shoved it to him, but he flipped through the pages nervously to help pass the time. Nothing had been added or changed that he noticed.

* * *

_It was too dark. She couldn't…wouldn't sleep. Never. Not alone. Not here in the dark. That's when he comes. If she can only stay awake, maybe, just maybe he won't get her. But she knew he would. He always did. There was no escaping it. He would get her in her sleep. The monster. Her daddy's teddy bear wasn't around to protect or even keep her company any more. No, her mother had taken him away, had kidnapped him long ago. She was alone now. Alone in the dark. Alone in the big room of the big mansion she was staying in with the monster. When would he come to get her? A few minutes, a few hours, a few seconds? There was no way to know. Time passed in seconds like they were years. The shadows from the window shook and grabbed at her. Only it wasn't a shadow any more. It was the monster. He came. He had her before she knew he was there. And now there was no way to escape. No one to help her as he clawed and grabbed her by the ankles down to the floor. _

* * *

Annette walked in through the large hospital doors toward Kathryn's room. She wasn't sure why she wanted to see her, but ever since the day Sebastian had introduced her something about the unconscious girl fascinated her. There were rumors going around in school about what happened to her, many of which somehow centered around Sebastian. The blonde didn't believe them though. She hated him for what he did to her, but he couldn't have put Kathryn in the hospital. She had seen the way he looked at her. The more she thought about it the more odd their whole family seemed to her. Finally, she found room 207... the one that the unconscious brunette occupied.

A young looking doctor with both hands stuffed into his pockets and a strangely smug look on his face passed her on the in. Annette entered slowly, a vase of flowers in hand, walked in the room. It wasn't the first flowers anyone had brought, in fact it looked like half the city had all sent some, but when she looked closer upon trying to find a place somewhere for hers she noticed most of them were from Sebastian. It didn't surprise her really. There was one that must have fallen over in the crowd in tiny shattered pieces on the floor. The water from it had made a bit of a puddle and the orchids scattered around and looked rather trampled on. They were occupied by a small note with the words "Love, mommy and daddy" scribbled in the center.

She finally found a place to sit the flowers and turned around to see a very awake and inquisitive Kathryn sitting up weakly in her bed staring at her with unsurprised eyes and a calculating expressing that reminded Annette of Sebastian somewhat.

"Oh, hello." She suddenly felt very awkward. Nobody had told her that she was conscious and for the blonde now felt like she was invading someone's personal space that didn't even know her. "Sorry, I'm Annette. My father is the new headmaster. I know Sebastian and when I heard…" Kathryn's expression had not changed and she felt as if being stared down by one of those beautiful stone statues you only see in Europe. Trevor had sent her many pictures of them throughout the summer. "I just wanted to come and put in my get well wishes."

By that point she could not have felt much more stupid or awkward. She turned to leave at Kathryn's constant expression when she heard a very strong, confident voice bid her back.

"How did you know Sebastian?" The brunette asked although she already knew perfectly well who the innocent blonde in front her was and almost every detail of her affiliation with Sebastian.

"I…we were friends. I knew him through his aunt who was kind enough to let me stay with her for part of the summer."

The brunette nodded and then winced in an obvious wave of pain that took her several moments to catch her breath from. As soon as she got her wits back about her she instantly shook it off.

"Are you ok?" The blonde asked, taking an instinctive few steps forward.

"Fine!" Kathryn snapped before she could stop herself. Quickly regaining her self control, she blinked in a few times and laid back down and covered herself up. "Sorry, I'm just in a good deal of pain at the moment."

"I'll get the doctor-"

Kathryn grabbed her forearm. "No. Don't. Stay here. There's nothing he can do. I'm going to die anyway."

Not quite sure how to respond to that Annette managed out a slow and careful "I'm sorry. Are you scared?"

She shook her head slightly "no", before looking up and stating in an extremely emotion removed voice "My heart is going to stop."

Annette could not imagine being in the horrible position the girl in front of her was in. She began to feel even more awkward when Kathryn continued.

"The thing is I'm not sure when and, until then it hurts to even breathe and I already look like death."

Even though Kathryn was remaining still, laying in the hospital bed under the covers that her face was almost pale enough to match, the more innocent girl began to feel as if she were being circled by some kind of predatory animal.

"It could be in a few minutes, or in a few hours, or, if I'm really unfortunate, when my step brother Sebastian comes to see me."

"He'll be happy that you are awake."

"I know my brother." She said almost in a sigh. "It would be better for everyone if I'm dead before he gets here. I want to go in peace and I can't do that with him crying all over me. It would be easier for him as well."

She stared very carefully at Annette, making sure to keep eye contact with her. "That's why I need you to do me a favor."

"What-?" She stirred off carefully, getting very nervous of what type of favor the ailing girl in front of her may ask for and silently praying it was not what she was beginning to suspect.

"Why would you want me to do that?" Annette asked her, nervously.

"Just do it."

Annette's face showed worry and a bit of confusion. "I can't-"

"Yes you can, just do it. It's what I want."

When the blonde continued to hesitate, Kathryn tried a different tactic. "Sebastian is always telling me how sweet you are, how much you like to help people. If you want to help me, you'll do it."

She was about to refuse again, but the pleading, sorrow filled look Kathryn gave made it impossible to produce the words. She had never seen such pain in a person's eyes before in her life.

The dark haired girl weakly handed the blonde now sitting on the side of her bed a cord hooked to a very large machine on the other side of her bed. Annette took it in her hands and stared down at it a long time. When she looked back up she saw a single tear trail down Kathryn's pale but still beautiful face. And heard her udder a quiet and shaky "please". And she bent the cord, doubling it over in her hand like a water hose to hold back the water.

"Thank you." She heard before squeezing her eyes tightly shut and crying. She wasn't sure how long she had kept them shut, but when she finally managed to get up the courage to open them again and look over to Kathryn she lied still and her monitoring machine had stopped beeping.

The next thing she knew was the sound of shattered glass as she turned around to leave and saw Sebastian standing in the doorway. He was frozen place with his eyes fixated on Kathryn with broken glass and flowers next to his feet.


End file.
